Michael Bond has enjoyed a writing career that has spanned more than five decades.
Bond has published hundreds of children’s books and continues to write to this day. How does he maintain his authorial momentum? He makes it a practice to avoid working on one character’s story for too long.
Here’s more from Bond’s interview with The New York Times: “When I have finished a Paddington, I think, that’s it, I’m out of ideas. When I get to the end of a Monsieur Pamplemousse, I think that’s it, but maybe I’ll go back to another Paddington. I’m a great believer in the subconscious. Graham Greene wrote about going to bed in the evening and waking up to discover you’ve solved the writing problem that had been worrying you. Alternating between characters is a way for me of staying fresh. My wife found a website that lists everything people have written. I’ve done over 200 books apparently; there are quite a lot I’ve totally forgotten I’ve written.”